Yes, the english media seem to have figured it out,unluckily long after the fact.

Finns are not very easy on hype and propaganda,for whatever reason, who knows and who claims what,whatever suits them.

Ilmarinen

P.S. Slightly depressed after following the internationalmedia on the present crise, while YLE (finnish TV) hasdone a great job. But 500 years, more or less, cannot be solved in two media evenings, need some media work inbetween too.

P.P.S. Cannot but associate to the muslim view on pigs anddogs, media-frolicing in the shxt and whatever.

(using a slightly different version of the old dutch one, butstill medieval and media.[From Dutch vrolijk, merry, from Middle Dutch vrolijc : vro, happy + -lijc, -like; see lk- in Indo-European Roots.])

British Telecommunications is expected to make an unusually stark warning over the financial risks of third generation mobile phone technology when it demerges its mobile division later this year.

A draft copy of the listing particulars for mmO2 the new name for the mobile division, reveals that BT cannot guarantee that the technology will improve existing services.

The document, seen by the

Financial Times, also warns that the existing second generation network of radio masts is unlikely to be sufficient for 3G technology, while the construction of new masts could be hampered by tougher planning restrictions.

3G services are intended to provide faster internet access from mobile phones and a range of multimedia services.

On Wednesday BT said it could not comment on the confidential document, the final version of which is expected to be released in a few weeks.

It is also normal for the "Investment Considerations" section of a prospectus or listing particulars to contain information on worst-case scenarios drafted by the company's lawyers.

Nevertheless, BT's draft document is considerably more gloomy than the risk factors identified in February by Orange, the last big mobile phone company to float.

This highlights the increasing uncertainty in the industry, particularly concerning how quickly and effectively operators will be able to launch 3G services.

The BT document warns that UMTS - universal mobile telecommunications service - the 3G standard used across Europe, "may not prove superior to existing technologies". It points out that much essential development work remains to be completed. "The technology for the new UMTS services is not yet fully developed by the suppliers of the handsets and software," it says.

This risk could be compounded by a shortage of available equipment. "We expect to roll out our UMTS network at the same time as many of our competitors," adds the draft. "This, combined with the limited number of suppliers of UMTS network equipment, may extend the delivery times of such equipment, which may mean we cannot provide sufficient network capacity."

The 3G network is also

expected to require many more radio masts in addition to existing 2G equipment using the GSM technology standard.

"Placement of our existing GSM masts is unlikely to be optimal for UMTS services, which would necessitate the acquisition of additional sites," says the document.

"The development of our UMTS networks may be hindered by more stringent planning controls over the siting of masts, particularly in rural areas."

In contrast, Orange's February prospectus contained little more than a brief warning: "The group depends on a limited number of suppliers for its network equipment and services. The group's results of operations could be materially adversely affected if its suppliers fail to provide it with adequate equipment."

Nokia's GPRS service faces a further delay as the industry's standards body says no to its requests to have the standards of the service changed.

The mobile manufacturer asked for a new technology to be incorporated into the specifications for the high-speed GPRS service and was turned down. The news threatens further delay of the release of Nokia's GPRS handset. Rivals Ericsson and Motorola have already released theirs.

An article in the September issue of the industry newsletter Nonvoice News claims: "Nokia's problems with the 3GPP [standards body] could lead to even greater delays in the launch of their long-awaited GPRS handsets, which will surely cost them dearly in terms of market share."

The company issued a hasty statement last week insisting that their GPRS handsets were still on schedule.

It claims: "The first units of the [GPRS-enabled] Nokia 8310 will become available in September, while the Nokia 6310 will start selling in the fourth quarter, and the Nokia 8390 at the end of 2001."

Nokia needs to make standards-compliant handsets that operate with equipment from other vendors. Other handset makers have had their contracts cancelled because their equipment wasn't standards-compliant, according to Nonvoice News.

However, the company needed the controversial software, called PBCCH, to help its handsets interoperate with its own network equipment.

The 3G phone networks will be rubbish, a leaked document from BT announces. The FT managed to get hold of a copy of the draft document for the float of BT Wireless - sorry, mmO2 - in which, by law, all the financial risks faced by the company have to be laid out.

In it, BT warns that UMTS - the system which 3G will be built on in Europe - "may not prove superior to existing technologies" and that a lot of work still needs to be done on it. It also goes on to state a range of things that everyone already knew: that the next-generation networks will need a load of extra masts and that the handsets and software are still behind and may delay any launches.

The truth be known, it's no great secret that UMTS isn't exactly the answer to all our prayers. Or that mobile operators were looking at other protocols to run the networks over. But then it is unfortunate that BT has had to spell it out.

It is also a clear indication that the mobile market is getting increasingly depressed about the amount of money they've spent on 3G and the amount they still have to spend to get it working as advertised. Oh dear. And this comes on the back of news last week that Vodafone's 3G service won't feature video when it launches.

The demerger document is due to published between 24 and 28 September, a BT spokesman told us but apart from that there is a solid "no comment" from the giant telco.

We just wish that the mobile companies would learn from the WAP debacle and speak to us about the problems with 3G rather than pretend everything is fine and rely on leaks and investigative journalism to get the message out.

Too Early to Count Effects of U.S. Air Halt -NokiaSeptember 13, 2001 5:28 am EST

By Paul de BendernHELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia said on Thursday it was too early to predict the impact of halted flights to and from the United States on the ability of the world's largest cellphone maker to deliver phones to customers.

"Until there is definite information based on statements from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) about when flights will resume, it is too early to make any projections as to the impact the situation might be for us," Nokia Mobile Phones spokesman Tapio Hedman told Reuters.

"If the situation is temporary, as it is relatively likely to be, the effects will be quite limited," he added.

The closure of U.S. airports and halting of air traffic since Tuesday's deadly terror attack in New York and Washington has affected shipments from companies like Nokia.

Disruptions in Nokia's logistics network -- seen as one of the best in the industry -- only for a few days could have significant effects on the company's ability to deliver to customers because it is such a big supplier of phones.

"If you look at volumes Nokia will absolutely be the worst hit if the delay in shipments lasts a week or two," said Nordea Securities senior analyst Mika Paloranta. "This could hurt Nokia. It could hurt its earnings."

Hours before Tuesday's terror attack, Nokia reaffirmed its third-quarter profit target, helped by U.S. demand, but the firm said it would see lower overall sales.

Nokia has a 35 percent share of the global handset market, more than double that of its nearest rival Motorola, and is expected to produce around 140 million phones this year.

Many of those phones are destined for the United States.

Last year, the United States was Nokia's biggest market with sales of 5.31 billion euros ($4.82 billion) out of total sales of 30.38 billion. China was its second biggest market.

Hedman stressed that Nokia had nine mobile phone plants with three in each continent and only one in the United States.

"The clear majority of our manufacturing is for local or regional demand, meaning that the amount of exported production from, for example the U.S., is clearly a minority," he said.

In the United States phones are shipped across the country mostly on lorries and trucks and the same was the case in Europe, another key market for Nokia.

"Our logistics principle has always been that we have the capability of compensating for interruptions in one factory by increasing operations in another," he said. "All our factories have the capability to produce every model in our portfolio."

Nokia, with a staff of almost 60,000 globally, said it had immediately begun discussions with components suppliers and other companies connected to Nokia production after U.S. transportation was halted.

"We do have the buffer of components in our manufacturing facilities," Hedman said.

Less than 20 percent of Nokia's total handset production is outsourced to external companies, much less than rivals. Ericsson, the world's third largest mobile phone manufacturer, has outsourced all production of phones.

Because most of Nokia's production is in-house, it has more control of production than some of its rivals.

BT's plans for the build-out and capabilities of its third-generation mobile networks have come under scrutiny following the alleged leak of pre-listing documents being prepared for mmO2, the U.K. telco's wireless division.

Influential business newspaper The Financial Times claims a document seen by its staff casts doubt on a number of operational and service provision issues surrounding the construction of 3G networks. The resulting article on FT.com, British Telecom raises concerns on 3G technology, suggests the operator will be issuing a "stark warning over the financial risks of third generation mobile phone technology" when the demerger of mmO2, due on 19 November, goes ahead.

But questions have been raised about the interpretation of the draft document. BT would say nothing other than that the final draft of the report would be issued on 24 September and that "We are not making any comment in the meantime."

Analysts went further. Stephen Pentland, a partner at Spectrum Strategy Consultants, said this was an investor document, and that BT was "taking a traditionally cautious" view. The focus at present was on "the caveat section that the investors expect - other parts of the document will look at the upsides and the commercial and partnership plans. Many of the details listed come as no surprise - this is a buyer beware process, and looks like a fair assessment of the worst-case risks," Pentland told Total Telecom. "It is to be hoped that BT has a team that can outperform the average case scenario, let alone the worst case scenario," he added.

Meanwhile, Philip Crate of Bear Stearns noted that the Financial Times article stated: "The wording of the 'investment considerations' section of the prospectus is much tougher than that contained in the earlier Orange prospectus. In particular, the report points to warnings that the existing second generation network of radio masts is unlikely to be sufficient for 3G technology, while the construction of new masts could be hampered by tougher planning restrictions." However, he wondered what the fuss was about. "Both are true but neither point should surprise the investment community," wrote Crate.

Most significantly, Crate pointed out that the need for network mast build-out has always been recognized. "All 3G operators in the U.K. will encounter substantial capex over the next few years building out their coverage. In this regard, we estimate that each 3G licence holder in the U.K. will need to build about 30,000 base stations to provide nationwide coverage which is a function of the higher frequency of UMTS. BT's soon-to-be de-merged wireless unit has around 10,000 base stations. Therefore mmO2 could have to triple the number of sites in order to provide comparable coverage to its GSM network.

"However, the actual increase in base stations is likely to be less than our estimates. Better technology will enable mmO2 to better exploit their current infrastructure, while the recent network sharing agreement reached between BT and DT in the U.K. and Germany should also reduce the number of base stations that mmO2 will need to construct to provide national coverage ... With regard to planning permission issues, while it is clear that local opposition to building base stations in populous areas shows no signs of abating, nevertheless national government appears to be taking a more pragmatic approach to this issue.

In addition, "On the technology front, concerns about the availability of handsets and software are not new issues and certainly the situation has not greatly deteriorated since Orange issued its prospectus in February. Discussions we have had with equipment suppliers in Europe suggest that the manufacturers are ready to meet demand but the take-up of equipment is uncertain because some operators themselves are taking a more cautious approach about the timing of providing commercial 3G services," stated Crate. <<

It means that Qualcomm Europe has begun to significantly contribute to 3GPP proceedings, and to Release 99 specifications specifically - although Q's quantity of contributions to Release 4 and release 5 (UTRA, HSDPA) are picking up as well.

3GPP has been trying, for some time, to wrap up their Release 99 specification..... that has been, and continues to be fraught with errors...

3GPP would dearly like to move on to focus development on their Release 4, which is intended to be their "foundation" specification... but Release 4 still relies on viable Release 99 specifications... and the ever illusive first generation networks will based on Release 99.